Seized Horses Sell Despite Handicaps

Health Dicey - Ancestry, Age A Mystery

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Suzanne Dessureau had a birthday Saturday. To celebrate, she bought herself three horses for $475.

Dessureau, of New Smyrna Beach, was one of five successful bidders at a sheriff's sale of nine horses seized May 23 from a DeLeon Springs woman accused of neglecting the animals.

The Arabian-mix horses, eight mares and a gelding, fetched prices ranging from $65 for an 11-year-old bay mare with an abscessed foot to $365 for the largest and oldest horse, a 16-hand gray mare thought to be about 13 years old. The average price was $165.50.

Deputy Bill Champion, who filed the complaint against the horses' owner, said the animals fetched higher prices than he expected, considering their uncertain ancestry and the fact that most have never been ridden.

The $1,490 raised at the auction will help pay the cost of caring for the horses since the seizure. Sgt. Terry Sanders of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office Special Services Division said the county spent about $7,000 on feed and boarding and $2,500 on veterinary care.

In August, a county judge ruled that Kay Bradley of DeLeon Springs could not care properly for her 15 horses on her $1,160 monthly income. Judge John Roger Smith allowed Bradley to keep six horses and ordered that the rest be sold by the Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's officials will return to court to try to recover the remaining expenses from Bradley.

The horses, some suffering malnutrition and health problems, were kept at Charlie Thompson's farm on Pioneer Trail, where the auction was held. The animals received extra food and veterinary care and, though still underweight, were in pretty good shape for the sale, Sanders said.

The horses' uncertain health history and lack of training did not dissuade Walter and Wyatt Maynard of New Smyrna Beach. Wyatt, 13, was all smiles after his father bought him a 12-year-old gelding for $180 and a 5-year-old bay mare for $130.

Walter Maynard, who lives in rural Volusia County, said he bought the horses for his son to ride. He plans to break them to the saddle himself, with the help of experienced neighbors.

Patricia Vazquez and Geneva Boucher of Edgewater also attended the auction in hopes of buying horses for their three daughters to ride, but stayed out of the bidding when the prices rose above $100.

Vazquez said the prospect of paying to board and feed one of the horses for a year or more until it was ready to ride, then paying to have it trained, made the auction prices prohibitive. A healthy, ready-to-ride horse with registration papers can be bought for $1,000 to $1,500, she said.

Champion cautioned the parents and their expectant children attending Saturday's auction that a few of the horses had nasty dispositions and would not be suitable for family riding.

Assisted by three deputies, Lt. Julie Wyllie of the Sheriff's Office conducted the calm-paced auction, clearly stating the competing bids. All nine horses were sold in about 30 minutes.

Unlike the Maynards, the other four buyers and most of the 15 registered bidders were experienced horse owners. They knew what to look for when workers led each horse from its stall into the center of the windy barn where the bidding took place.

Dave Carlton, who has more than 70 horses on his farm down the road from the Thompson place, paid $150 for a 3-year-old mare that was the only horse thought to be a full-blooded Arabian.

Workers who helped care for the horses said the mare was possibly pregnant with a full-blooded Arabian foal.

DeLeon Springs cattle ranch owner Kimberly Conaway bought mare No. 5, age unknown, for $125, and the mare with the abscessed foot for $65. She and her husband are accustomed to caring for animals that are ''less than perfect,'' she said.

Lynn Alexsen of Edgewater outbid Carlton and Conaway for the large gray mare that sold for $365. The horse will stay at the Thompson farm, where Alexsen works and boards her other four horses.

''She's pretty,'' Alexsen said of her new horse. ''I think she has potential.''

Sanders said Saturday's sales are final, even though Bradley has until Oct. 11 to appeal Judge Smith's order that her horses be sold. If Bradley won an appeal, she might be allowed to seek the auction proceeds, he said.